Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that 'the just shall live by his faith.' Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise.
Martin LutherMankind has a free will; but it is free to milk cows and to build houses, nothing more.
Martin LutherLord God, I thank Thee that Thou hast been pleased to make me a poor and indigent man upon earth. I have neither house nor land nor money, to leave behind me. Thou hast given me wife and children, whom I now restore to Thee. Lord, nourish, teach, and preserve them as Thou hast me.
Martin LutherOf all deadly sins, this is the most deadly, namely, that any one should think he is not guilty of a damnable and deadly sin before God.
Martin LutherAlways preach in such a way that if the people listening do not come to hate their sin, they will instead hate you
Martin LutherI [i.e., God] have given you baptism as a gift for the forgiveness of sins, and preach to you unceasingly by word of mouth concerning this treasure, sealing it with the Sacrament of my body and blood, so that you need never doubt. True, it seems little and insignificant that by the washing of water, the Word, and the Sacrament this should all be effected. But don't let your eyes deceive you.
Martin Luther